


Where Loyalties Lie

by mac_haze



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-06
Updated: 2014-04-06
Packaged: 2018-01-18 10:33:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1425307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mac_haze/pseuds/mac_haze
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's ironic how keeping a promise can feel like betrayal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Loyalties Lie

**Author's Note:**

> Posting this way after the fact. Companion piece to Sibling Bonding is Overrated. Set sometime after 3x09. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own 'em, I just play with 'em

Mandy found Ian sleeping in the same position she left him in before she went to see Mickey.

She hadn’t bothered knocking on Ian’s door before she entered because privacy was a formality rarely, if ever, granted in the Gallagher household.

Strangely enough, Mandy found she didn’t mind. She could name any number of occasions since she had been staying with the Gallaghers where she had been walked in on during various states of undress, or had been the one to stumble across others who had been in more compromising positions.

She shook herself out of her reverie and went to sit on the edge of Ian’s bed where he lay faced away from her. 

She put her hand on his arm and squeezed.

“Ian?” 

He snuffled and his forehead creased before his eyes opened. The bag of peas he had been using to ice his face had melted hours ago and leaked water all over his pillow.

“Shit,” he winced and pulled the bag out from under his cheek, half of his hair and collar soaked through.

Mandy held out of her hand expectantly and Ian handed over the bag before he rolled over to face her. She put the bag on the nightstand.

“Time is it?” voice slurred from sleep.

Ian squinted against the light on the nightstand and tried to ignore how the swollen side of his face still throbbed with his heartbeat. 

“Just after four. Fiona and the rest of the unruly horde should be getting home soon.”

“Why did you wake me up?” he asked as he scrubbed a hand over his face, mindful of where the skin had scabbed over.

“Because there is only so much a bag of frozen vegetables can do for pain.”

She took the bottle Mickey had given to her, uncapped it, and shook a few pills onto her palm. She grabbed the first Vicodin she saw and waved it in front of Ian’s face.

“Where did you get those?”

She ignored his question and said:

“Come on, sit up so you can take this.”

She tugged on his shoulder a bit until he let out a sigh and complied. After being friends with Mandy for as long as he had, Ian knew that resistance was futile. They shifted so they were seated next to one another. She handed him the pill and the glass of water she had grabbed on her way upstairs. 

He knocked it back and set the glass on the nightstand. 

“Where did you get the pills?” 

Ian repeated his question because, of course, he just couldn’t forget he asked.

Mandy took a deep breath.

“Mickey.”

Ian visibly stiffened next to her.

“How much did he want for them?” 

Because Mickey never did anything without wanting something in return.

“He didn’t want anything for them.”

Not fucking likely.

“Since when is he willing to do anyone a fucking favor?” Ian didn’t bother hiding the bitterness in his voice.

“He isn’t. But when I told him they were for you, he handed them over no problem.”

The snorted half laugh Ian let out was laced with disbelief. He shook his head, took the bottle of pills from her, set them on the nightstand next to the water and proceeded to glare at the bottle like it had personally offended him.

“I know, believe me, the way he reacted surprised the fuck out of me too.”

She baited him, torn between keeping her promise to her brother and wanting to spill everything because she wanted her best friend to confide in her. From Mickey’s reaction, she knew how hard it had been for him to admit that he was gay let alone admitting that he and Ian had something together. She could only imagine what Ian was going through now that he thought everything was over. 

“Yeah, Mick always has been full of surprises.”

Mandy guessed Ian had no idea that what he said came out more fond than disgusted.

She had to admit, Ian had gotten good at keeping secrets. She remembered when they first pledged their undying friendship to each other, he told her everything. Some good, some bad, and if he never told her all of the nasty, dirty things he would like to do to Claude Van Dam she would have been able to die happy. 

She decided to try a different tactic.

“You ever going to tell me who mangled your face?” she bumped her shoulder against his.

“No one important.”

Well if that wasn’t the biggest fucking lie he ever told, Mandy didn’t know what was.

She resisted the urge to roll her eyes. It appeared as though she wasn’t going to get a damn thing out of Ian. 

“Are you sure? If you tell me, I could get my brothers on it.”

Ian’s laugh caught her off guard. 

“I would sell tickets to that fucking event, but really, the Brothers Milkovich aren’t necessary.” 

“Well, if you’re not going to tell me how it happened, would you at least tell me why?”

Her persistence gave Ian pause. Things had gotten too out of hand. Both he and Mickey were too deep into their secrets that if they told them now it would’ve felt like adding salt to the open wound of their lives. Everything hurt way too much and Ian was tempted to shut down completely to escape the pain.

He turned to look at her straight on.

“It happened because I fucking cared too much.” 

The resignation that crept into his voice broke Mandy’s heart. Ian was never one to be beaten down by anyone or anything. She didn’t want to believe that Mickey had been the one to best Ian but from the way this conversation was shaping up, it was hard to believe any other possibility. 

What the hell had they done to each other?

“You told me once that you could tell me anything because I would understand. Why is this any different?” 

She couldn’t keep the hurt out of her voice. She understood the reasons Ian and Mickey wanted to keep their relationship a secret but she thought Ian would have been the one to let something slip. Mickey was the last person in the world she thought would lay out his cards on the table. What happened the last time Ian and Mickey saw each other must’ve cut Ian up so bad he felt like he had no other choice than to play his hand close to his chest.

“It’s different because it’s not worth rehashing. Believe me, this isn’t going to happen again,” he gestured to his face. “It’s all fucking over.”

Ian didn’t want to talk about Mickey, especially not with Mandy who was so blatantly oblivious it was insulting. The last time he had confronted Mickey had been playing on repeat in his mind, and frankly, he was sick of it. He was tired of deluding himself. If Mickey had cared once upon a time, he made it abundantly clear he no longer did. 

Ian blinked a few times. Mandy moved to say something but he cut her off.

“Tell your brother thanks for the pills. I’m tired, let me sleep.”

He avoided her gaze, although he didn’t miss the hurt look in her eyes or the helpless gesture she offered by way of comfort. His guilt over dismissing her was reaching epic proportions and if she didn’t leave him alone he would do something stupid like tell her everything. 

He lay down, and lifted his head enough to punch his only remaining pillow into submission. 

After he settled, Mandy knew he would ignore her until she took the hint and left. What the hell had happened to their friendship these last few months?

At a complete loss for something else to say, she leaned down and kissed Ian’s hair. Ian felt tears prick behind his closed lids and gripped the edge of his pillow until his knuckles turned white. 

Before she turned the light off, she regarded Ian’s huddled form. He must have felt her staring because he curled in on himself just as Mickey had when she told him that Ian loved him.

She paused in the doorway, chewing her bottom lip. She found it ironic that not telling Ian anything Mickey had said felt more like a betrayal than a promise.

She sighed softly and closed the door.


End file.
